SURENDRA KUMAR SAHNI Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner is a Major General, in Army Service Corpse (ASC) of the Army. Presently, he is posted at Headquarters Southern Command, Pune, Maharashtra. Prior to that, he had been posted as Major General Army Service Corps(MG ASC) at Headquarters Central Command, located at Lucknow, during the period from 5th July, 1999 to 21st November, 2001. During his posting there, apart from discharging his normal duties, he also acted as Executive Officer, designated as such under relevant Regulations for the purposes of conclusion of contracts for the supply of "Meat Group"items of Troops' ration, stationed at different places under Central Command including Meerut and Lucknow. Acting in that capacity, he was required to adhere to the provisions contained in letter No. PC/RAKSHA/68063/Q/ST5/5089D(QS) dated 22-11-2002 of Government of India, Ministry of Defence as well as terms and conditions of tender documents while concluding the contracts.

(2.) The petitioner while functioning as Executive Officer is alleged to have committed certain irregularities by his acts of commission or omission in operating the contracts, which the respondents detail as under in para 3 of their counter affidavit:

(3.) In anticipation of a vacancy in the post of Lt.General ASC arising on 1st October, 2002, a Selection Board was held in August, 2002 to fill up the said vacancy. The petitioner claims that he was selected for the said post by the Selection Board and after clearance by Raksha Mantri, the matter is said to be pending before ACC. In the meantime, on some anonymous/pseudonymous complaints pertaining to the conclusion of the contracts while functioning as Executive Officer at Central Command pertaining to 'Meat Group' Items, a Court of Inquiry was ordered to be convened to inquire into the alleged acts of commission or omission as extracted hereinabove from Para 3 of the counter affidavit of the respondents. The plea of the petitioner is that the matter had already been disposed of by Lt.General P.S.Joshi, erstwhile General officer Commanding in -chief (GOC-in-chief ) and thus there is no justification for re-opening the whole issue after lapse of about one year, especially when the name of the petitioner is pending for approval by ACC for promotion to the rank of Lt.General. In regard to allegations against him, as detailed hereinabove, which constitute subject matter of fact finding exercise by the Court of Inquiry, the petitioner pleads that allegations under the heads 3(a)(b) & (c) have already been inquired into and decided in his favour, while on 3(d) count, the period of the contract and inquiry being from 1-4-2002 to 31-3-2003 action, if any, required to be taken pertains to the period of his successor as he was posted out from Headquarters Central Command, Lucknow on 6-11-2001. With respect to allegations under head3(e) again, it is pleaded that the action, if any, was required to be taken by the successor of the petitioner only as the performance report of the contractor ending 31-10-2001 was received in the office of MG ASC Central Command in January, 2002 only Vide DDST UP Area Letter No.341702/2/ST5(ii) dated 31st January, 2002. In relation to allegations in Para 3(f), it is stated that the contract was sanctioned by the Quartermaster General, hence, only he could have rescinded the contract and no blame is liable to be apportioned to the petitioner in that respect.